[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How did free people in USA thrive in high he...
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Ask HN: How did free people in USA thrive in high heat before air-
conditioning?
I live in Mid-West USA. It's been hitting 95degF the past few days.
I experimented with trying to go without air-conditioning. Couldn't
do it. Couldn't work on my computer despite being indoors and
having a fan on my desk. Had terrible sleep (despite having a
powerful ceiling fan). Air-conditioning is not even a hundred
years old and was originally not even invented to keep people cool
(it was invented to keep machines from overheating). How did free
people stay thriving and productive during summer in places like
Florida, and certain other parts of America where there's not only
extreme heat but also extreme humidity? Is it a case of: - temps
have gotten hotter more recently? - if I had continued my
experiment, I would have eventually gotten used to the heat and
learned to thrive in it? When it gets extremely hot around here, I
think a lot about the Bedouin with all their layers of clothes in
unimaginable heat. I also think about photos of Americans from
around a hundred years ago when all men seemed to be dressed in
suits and a hat. Such a mystery to me. (And yes, I realize the
Bedouin wear all those layers to protect themselves from hot wind.
But still, it must feel like an oven in there.)
Author : reactspa
Score : 11 points
Date : 2022-07-16 20:53 UTC (2 hours ago)
| martin8412 wrote:
| missedthecue wrote:
| In 1900, the population of Las Vegas was 22. One way of avoiding
| high heat back then was trying not to live in it.
| grumpitron wrote:
| It just takes time to get used to it. For example, I lived in a
| city with very little A/C for a few years and got used to it. One
| July I went to North Florida where the temps were 90-100F while
| being very humid, and although I was warm I was fine without the
| A/C. My friends who came from Chicago and were used to constant
| A/C were miserable, though.
| trinovantes wrote:
| Climate change made heat waves more frequent and severe
|
| Concrete/asphalt infrastructure and lack of shade makes cities
| several degrees hotter than rural areas
| _int3_ wrote:
| I did the same, but succeeded. Only humidity was lower then in
| USA south. Humidity makes it hotter.
| juanani wrote:
| h2odragon wrote:
| Interior spaces were built taller, more attention was paid to
| ventilation, giving a natural draft where possible.
|
| People sweated and drank more alcohol.
|
| It was easier for many, before air conditioning, to adjust their
| schedule to the hot months, rise earlier and nap in the
| afternoon.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| Home construction styles are a major one. Modern homes are
| generally blocky and offer little protection from the sun. They
| have large exposed exterior walls on the east and west side so
| that you have less than a foot of material protecting the
| interior from the heat introduced by sunlight. And often larger
| windows which are nice for lighting, but offer no help when the
| sun bears down on the home.
|
| Wraparound covered porches, or even _a_ covered porch providing
| protection for at least the ground floor from being hit with
| direct sunlight makes a major difference in the temperature of
| a building.
|
| Homes can be built like they are now _because_ of air
| conditioning, and since they are designed with an assumption
| that AC will be available they are miserable places to be when
| the AC fails.
| cududa wrote:
| Yep. 120 year old house and my AC bill is insanely low. It's
| very drafty and has an east facing covered porch on both
| levels that does a great job with heat mitigation.
|
| Just as a tip I noted in another comment, got into indoor
| plants over the winter and happened to just like humidity
| sucking ones. Required a lot of humidifiers during winter,
| but during the summer those plants just zap humidity from my
| home when I have my windows open.
|
| I usually like my AC at ~73deg but with all the plants I feel
| perfectly comfortable with the windows open (plus two window
| fans) up until about 78deg indoors and outdoor humidity at
| 80% - the plants draw down humidity by at least 15%
| t-3 wrote:
| The populations in those areas used to be far lower, and
| temperatures were lower during the "Little Ice Age", which covers
| much of that period.
|
| People just put up with it, or adopted appropriate traditions
| such as siestas during the hottest periods of the day. We also
| adapt to conditions remarkably quickly, and are physically
| capable of surviving far outside what we normally consider
| comfortable. When visiting the south, it's not uncommon to see
| people complaining of cold in 60F weather which is quite
| comfortable to northerners, who start to complain about heat past
| 70F.
|
| Building materials and styles of construction were different -
| before modern transportation and logistics, you couldn't build
| exclusively with wood in areas with no trees and few rivers to
| float barges, and insulation was accomplished through thicker
| walls.
|
| People used parasols, shawls, and other clothing to cover up and
| insulate their bodies rather than their entire surroundings.
| Swamp coolers have been known for thousands of years.
| paulcole wrote:
| I grew up in the most extremely hot/humid part of Florida for the
| first 18 years of my life (I'm about 40 now). My dad didn't
| believe air conditioning was necessary and he was right. It's
| possible to survive, but it's absolutely miserable.
|
| Our house (he designed/built it) was wide open, essentially one
| big room with huge ceiling fans and screened in windows. It was
| built inside of a ton of tree cover for shade. House was full of
| bugs (occasionally snakes) and still hot and humid. Take a
| shower/bath and never get dry. Clothes had to be stored in our
| cedar closet (designed like a humidor) or they would smell dank
| and moldy.
|
| You do get used to it though. It's just that it's not worth
| getting used to.
|
| Moved away to college and my first A/C bill was something like
| $300. Didn't care at all.
| makersmasher wrote:
| In my 20s I had an apartment with no air, you actually adapt
| fairly quickly, it took me 3-4 weeks of 90+, high humidity. The
| odd part is, I haven't been able to really adjust back, I have no
| tolerance for the cold now.
| QuarterRoy wrote:
| Before electricity they had things like sleeping porches which
| were just like what the name implies. After electricity and
| before AC, they used an attic fans. These are giant belt driven
| fans with an electric motor that have a sort of trap door in
| front of them - usually with some sort of mesh covering the trap
| door (I've owned two houses in the southern US built in the early
| 1900s with these fans).
|
| In the summer months, you'd open all the windows, open the trap
| door, and turn on the fan. Historical homes were also built with
| crank windows above the doors to also help increase circulation
| when the attic fan was on.
|
| It's also about what you're used to. My grandparents keep their
| central AC on in the mid 80s - which to me is very uncomfortable
| but they are in their late 80s and this is what they're used to.
| cududa wrote:
| Oh wow. I forgot about the attic fan. Haven't lived in that
| house for 14 years but wow - can't believe I forgot about that.
| Those things were AWESOME! Shame more homes don't have them
| now.
| silisili wrote:
| My parents grew up without AC. Their families used a series of
| open windows and window fans to create a housewide draft.
|
| You can't just point a fan at yourself...a big problem is the air
| in your house getting hotter than outdoor air due to greenhouse,
| electronics, warm bodies, and ground temps. So recycling air out
| helps a lot.
|
| That said, we had that same setup as a kid for about a month and
| it was still rather miserable compared to AC. Mainly because AC
| removes humidity, whereas fans don't.
| cududa wrote:
| I got very into indoor plants over the winter and outfitted the
| house with smart humidifiers to control humidity in each room
| as my old house is VERY drafty.
|
| It's absolutely wild to adapt to the plants summer humidity
| needs (based in Ohio). I can keep my windows open with a few
| window fans to circulate air and the indoor humidity level
| hovers around 15-20% less than outdoor humidity.
| HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
| Before modern A/C, in some parts of the US they used "swamp
| coolers", which as I understand it was basically a large box of
| damp wood chips through which outside air entered the house.
| These were a type of evaporative cooler - they work by the heat
| in the hot air being used to evaporate the water on the wood
| chips, leaving cooler air which then flowed into the house. No
| electricity required - just keep the wood chips damp!
| personjerry wrote:
| See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler for more
| info
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(page generated 2022-07-16 23:01 UTC)